KUALA LUMPUR, 16 JULY: According to the Federation of Malaysian Fashion, Textile and Apparel (FMFTA), the industry has been losing an estimated RM163 million per day as a result of Covid-19 pandemic-driven movement restriction laws to combat the pandemic. The federation said in a statement distributed to reporters covering FMFTA’s virtual news conference today that the industry is pleading with the government to advance it from phase one to phase two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
“Given the present pandemic situation in Malaysia, the federation also emphasized that its members will not be able to survive if they wait for the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 3 without operating,” FMFTA added.
The federation was founded on October 29, 2019 by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry with the purpose of uniting all associations in Malaysia’s textiles and apparel industry, according to a statement from FMFTA.
Malaysian Textile Manufacturers Association, Malaysian Knitting Manufacturers Association, Malaysian Footwear Manufacturers Association, Persatuan Wanita Bumiputra Dalam Perniagaan Profession Malaysia (PENIAGAWATI), Malaysian Garment Marketers Association, Malaysia Textile and Apparel Center, P.W Gold and Silver Ornament Merchants Association, Persatuan Wanita Bumiputra Dalam Perniagaan Profession Malaysia (PENIAG
According to FMFTA, the fashion, textile, and apparel industry is classified as phase three of the NRP.
“FMFTA voiced their profound concern because the industry cannot afford any further shutdowns and is expected to lose RM163 million per day,” FMFTA stated.
In 2020, four well-known foreign-owned multinational textile and apparel factories shut down their operations in Malaysia and laid off about 6,000 workers, according to FMFTA, as the industry grappled with the impact of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO), which was first implemented in March 2020 to halt the pandemic’s spread.
Many local textile and apparel manufacturers have closed or curtailed their operations since then, resulting in around 15,000 job losses, according to FMFTA, which did not name the four prominent foreign-owned multinational textile and apparel firms that had shut down their operations in Malaysia.
In a statement, FMFTA chairman Datuk Seri Tan Thian Poh said that since the first MCO, also known as MCO 1.0, 15 percent of Malaysia’s fashion, textile, and apparel businesses have closed, and another 30 percent are on the verge of closing due to a lack of cash flow caused by Covid-19-related uncertainty.
If they are not allowed to function under phase two of the NRP, he believes the situation would escalate.
According to a statement released by FMFTA, its council members have urged the government to enable the industry to operate in phase two of the NRP because enterprises may no longer be able to withstand daily losses of over RM163 million as a result of the protracted shutdown.
There will be more to come./n
